Get Flash to see this player.
Description
Here is a mystery song from my family's history. The song is Dream A Little Dream.
I got it off an old 78 tonite that I found in my grandma's record collection. After borrowing a friends record player and hooking it up to my computer, I imported it with Garageband and took out most of the scratches and pops in Audacity.
I called my Grandma Margie tonight at 10:30 and woke her up because I was all excited about my new family discovery. I wanted to find out who was on the songs. Here's the scoop....
The Tenor Sax is Donald Brown, my grandmother's brother. He went to Gonzaga and was best friends with Jimmy Rowles, a famous Jazz Piano player, according to the family story, he got Jimmy thru college by doing his math for him, Jimmy got Donald into the music biz afterwards as thanks. I guess Donald arranged a song for one of the Dorseys, It has been my grandmothers quest to find the song on an album so we can have it in the family, but so far no luck.
The piano player is my Grandpa Jim Gerard whom I have never met because he died before I was born. I don't know much about him, but I played his Gibson L-40 all the time from the day I could hold it, and so did the whole rest of my family. There are other musicians you cant hear well, on this one, but you can hear on the other song I'll post. The Trumpet Player is Mead Swingley from Browning, Montana, i found his name on a random blog. It says he went to Gonzaga College in the 40's to be an airplane pilot. That's all I know about him. There are more on the flipside of this album who are unidentified, but likely from the Cut Bank and Browning area of northern Montana. We'ere not sure, because of the quality of the recording, but if there's a rhythm guitar in the mix, it would be my Grandpa Jim's brother Johnny Gerard.
The neat thing about this group is that they were all part-indians from off the Blackfeet Indian Resevation who defied their stereotypes (in my opinion). Of the three I know of on this tune, two went to Gonzaga one was a County Commisioner. Not to mention being good jazz musicians, .
Players (again):
Tenor Sax - Donald Brown, Heart Butte, Montana (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Piano - Jim Gerard, Browning/Cut Bank, Montana (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Trumpet - Meade Swingley, Browning, Montana (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Guitar (???) - Johnny Gerard, Browning/Cut Bank (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Trombone - unknown
Drums - unknown
I'm allowing this song for download, mostly for my family to be able to come to one place to get the tune, but it's for anyone really.
I got it off an old 78 tonite that I found in my grandma's record collection. After borrowing a friends record player and hooking it up to my computer, I imported it with Garageband and took out most of the scratches and pops in Audacity.
I called my Grandma Margie tonight at 10:30 and woke her up because I was all excited about my new family discovery. I wanted to find out who was on the songs. Here's the scoop....
The Tenor Sax is Donald Brown, my grandmother's brother. He went to Gonzaga and was best friends with Jimmy Rowles, a famous Jazz Piano player, according to the family story, he got Jimmy thru college by doing his math for him, Jimmy got Donald into the music biz afterwards as thanks. I guess Donald arranged a song for one of the Dorseys, It has been my grandmothers quest to find the song on an album so we can have it in the family, but so far no luck.
The piano player is my Grandpa Jim Gerard whom I have never met because he died before I was born. I don't know much about him, but I played his Gibson L-40 all the time from the day I could hold it, and so did the whole rest of my family. There are other musicians you cant hear well, on this one, but you can hear on the other song I'll post. The Trumpet Player is Mead Swingley from Browning, Montana, i found his name on a random blog. It says he went to Gonzaga College in the 40's to be an airplane pilot. That's all I know about him. There are more on the flipside of this album who are unidentified, but likely from the Cut Bank and Browning area of northern Montana. We'ere not sure, because of the quality of the recording, but if there's a rhythm guitar in the mix, it would be my Grandpa Jim's brother Johnny Gerard.
The neat thing about this group is that they were all part-indians from off the Blackfeet Indian Resevation who defied their stereotypes (in my opinion). Of the three I know of on this tune, two went to Gonzaga one was a County Commisioner. Not to mention being good jazz musicians, .
Players (again):
Tenor Sax - Donald Brown, Heart Butte, Montana (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Piano - Jim Gerard, Browning/Cut Bank, Montana (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Trumpet - Meade Swingley, Browning, Montana (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Guitar (???) - Johnny Gerard, Browning/Cut Bank (Blackfeet Indian Reservation)
Trombone - unknown
Drums - unknown
I'm allowing this song for download, mostly for my family to be able to come to one place to get the tune, but it's for anyone really.
Leave a Comment
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
Feter
Hats off to you Brian so glad you shared this sweet memory and part
of the history !!!!